Course

Undercover Cybercrime Investigations Training (October 2024)

Ended Oct 31, 2024

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Full course description

About this Course

Cybercrime and cybercriminals are changing the nature of law enforcement. Today, police officers and investigators are faced with the challenge of keeping up in a rapidly evolving landscape where many crimes are now committed online and where complex technology is used to help facilitate a crime. Traditional investigative techniques generally focus on the physical evidence left after a crime has been committed, not digital crimes that can be committed from anywhere in the world, at any time. To help in this fight, investigators often work online and undercover, but most of those in law enforcement do not have the proper training to safely operate without “blowing” their undercover persona.

This course will provide law enforcement officers the basic knowledge to understand how cybercrime works, where cybercriminals operate, and most importantly, the ability to conduct undercover cybercrime investigations safely and effectively. The course is divided into 9 modules over a 4-week period that can be completed within that 4-week window.

Students Will Learn:

  1. Fundamentals of computer networking and Internet technology
  2. How the web and email systems work
  3. Potential dangers of undercover cybercrime investigations
  4. Tips and techniques for protecting your “e-cover” online
  5. What a cybercriminal can quickly learn about you if you are not careful!

Interactive Labs Include:

  1. Establishing your undercover online identities and email accounts
  2. Encrypting and decrypting communications and sensitive data with PGP
  3. Creating undercover social media accounts
  4. Locating hidden data in electronic files
  5. Signing up for a Dark Web marketplace using TOR
  6. Hiding your location by using a VPN

Learn About New Cyber Criminal Threats:

  1. Fundamentals of Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin
  2. Accessing and navigating the Dark Web
  3. Finding criminal activity in underground marketplaces and forums
  4. Popular criminal digital communication methods and tools

Why choose Undercover Cybercrime Investigations Training?

  1. Courses are delivered completely online and facilitated by experts in the field.
  2. Interact with your instructor and officers from other departments and states.
  3. Courses are equivalent to forty professional development contact hours.
  4. Work on each module at your own pace.
  5. Register on an open enrollment basis. No application or prerequisites are required.
  6. Receive a course completion certificate and digital badge after completing the course. Use your badge to showcase your expertise and skill set on social media profiles, your email signature block, or electronic copies of a résumé.
  7. Very affordable

 

Instructor Dr. Thomas S. Hyslip

Dr. Thomas S. Hyslip is an Instructor in the Criminology Department at the University of South Florida. He received his Doctor of Science degree in Information Assurance from Capitol College in 2014. His research focuses on cybercrime and cybersecurity, including computer hacking, malware, and DDoS attacks. Dr. Hyslip has been published in a variety of journals, including the Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, Deviant Behavior, and the Homeland Defense and Security Journal. Before becoming a faculty member at USF, Dr. Hyslip served as a federal law enforcement officer for over 23 years specializing in cybercrime investigations and digital forensics.

Dr. Hyslip’s final law enforcement position was the Resident Agent in Charge of the Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Cyber Resident Agency. He was previously a Special Agent with the United States Secret Service and retired as a Colonel from the U.S. Army Reserve. Dr. Hyslip has testified as an expert witness on computer forensics and network intrusions in numerous federal, state, and local courts. He is a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) and a Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH).

Instructor Gary Rudd

Gary Rudd is a Special Agent (SA) with the Department of Defense (DoD), Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Cyber Field Office, and is currently based in Fort Lauderdale, FL. As a cybercrime agent, SA Rudd is actively involved in investigating network intrusion attempts into critical Defense Department computer systems and those of defense contractors. SA Rudd previously attended the undercover training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and has extensive experience working undercover and targeting underground hacker forums and large-scale botnets involved in denial-of-service attacks.

Before DCIS, SA Rudd was a Customs and Border Protection Officer at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport for two years. Outside of Federal employment, SA Rudd had over a decade of experience with computer and information technology as a business owner and information technology enterprise consultant. SA Rudd holds numerous technical certifications including the Department of Defense Certified Cyber Crime Investigator and Certified Ethical Hacker and has attended extensive computer network, information security, and hacking classes.